Chapter 10#

When he got up the next day, Chen Yuanming was surprisingly quiet. He didn’t speak a word, and his expression was blank. Even Chen Jianhua, who was usually careless, noticed something was wrong.

“Doudou, are you sick?” Wang Juan put her hand on her son’s forehead. “Is studying too busy recently? Mom will make you some eggs later to nourish you…”

It was as if those worries about money last night didn’t exist at all. Her smile was still so gentle, and her eyes were full of care and expectation for him. Chen Yuanming shook his head silently and lowered his eyes.

He remembered. His uncle’s youngest daughter, Wang Hui, nicknamed Yuanyuan. A gloomy and taciturn little girl with a lame foot. In his previous life, he didn’t have a deep impression of this cousin, only seeing her a few times during holidays. He vaguely remembered that she hurt her leg in an accident when she was young. But he never thought that if they had money at that time, this lame foot could have been cured…

Memory is like a dried-up water bag. Without twisting and squeezing it hard, you can’t squeeze out what you need at all. But when you really find those things back, it is often sad and bitter.

In the days that followed, why did his parents’ relationship become increasingly indifferent? Why did his aunts never visit again? Why did his uncle always treat his family coldly… A pile of bad debts caused the family to fall apart. He once thought it was because the family had no money and was short-sighted, so they didn’t want him to go to high school or college, and only wanted him to enter a factory to get an “iron rice bowl”. But he didn’t expect that his parents had so eagerly hoped for his academic success and for him to stand out.

And in this life, he could indeed do it. Go to the best high school in the city, and get into a top-tier university in the country. He was not a genius, but as long as he was willing to study hard, these were not difficult. But what about his family… Even if he could earn money, thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands or millions, that would be 2 or 3 years later, after he stepped out of this closed city.

Distant water cannot quench present thirst.

In the classroom, everyone was listening attentively, making a final sprint for the upcoming final exam. This was their first chance to change their destiny in this life. Chen Yuanming sat straight in his seat, looking at the draft book full of words in front of him, and the date that was traced over and over again.

He actually always knew how to take the shortcut. He had experience, ability, and the most critical foresight. But subconsciously, this plan had never landed on paper. Just because of his thirst, because of his full hope. Living again, why couldn’t he have a better life? A childhood without so much worry, valued by parents, full of pride, a campus life in the highest institution that was not so embarrassing, walking upright…

Unfortunately, he couldn’t get it.

“Chen Yuanming!”

A sharp voice interrupted his thoughts. Chen Yuanming looked up and saw Teacher Han staring at him fiercely from the podium, her eyes full of disdain and anger.

“Answer the question I just asked!”

Chen Yuanming didn’t move and looked back straightly.

“Grades went up and you start reverting to old ways?” Seeing the other party’s unrepentant expression, Teacher Han’s voice became a few points sharper. “Stand up! You dare to daydream in my class? What are you holding in your hand? Hand it over! Do you think you don’t need to listen to the class anymore? You can do whatever you want? It’s only been a few days, and your tail is up in the sky! Do you deserve it!”

Chen Yuanming stood up silently and looked around. More than half of the classroom had gloating eyes, and a few frowned in disdain. He lowered his head, touched the date again, and closed the notebook. Reaching into the drawer to take out his schoolbag, he swept all the textbooks on the table into it. Chen Yuanming simply slung his schoolbag and walked out of the classroom.

Startled by this action, whispers immediately erupted in the classroom. Teacher Han was stunned for a long time before recovering, and shouted angrily as the boy stepped out of the classroom. “Chen Yuanming!! Do you want to be expelled? This is a school, not a place where you can come and go as you please!”

Chen Yuanming turned his head and took a deep look at this bright and clean classroom, those young boys and girls with different expressions, that middle-aged woman who was angry to the point of losing her composure… So familiar, so strange. He couldn’t go back.

A slightly self-mocking smile floated on the corner of his lips.

“No need to expel, I quit.”

Amidst an uproar, Chen Yuanming stepped out of the classroom with brisk steps. A strange sense of pleasure suddenly rose in his heart. Now he was in the top three of the whole school. Would Han Qian bear some responsibility for his withdrawal? But this was no longer important. He no longer needed to disguise himself and stay awkwardly among these children. Now for him, there were more important things…

————

“Chen Yuanming!”

With a loud shout, the door was kicked open violently. Chen Yuanming put away the envelope at hand and looked up. He saw his father rushing in with a furious face, grabbing his collar and dragging him up from the bed.

“You fucking explain it to me! What happened at school today!”

“Just like what you heard, Dad.”

“You still have the face to talk back to me!” A palm as big as a cattail leaf slapped down with a snap, making Chen Yuanming stagger. “Go to the teacher and apologize!”

“Doudou!” Wang Juan also rushed into the door. “What are you thinking? It’s almost the graduation exam, how can you talk back to the teacher! You! Go and admit your mistake quickly, I’ll go with you…”

It seemed that the call was made directly to the factory. The corner of his mouth was burning with pain. Facing his shocked and angry parents, Chen Yuanming shook his head gently. “I really don’t want to go to school anymore, don’t…”

“You bastard!!”

Chen Jianhua kicked him. With a crash, the tables and chairs beside him were knocked over. Chen Yuanming was kicked off balance, took a few steps back, knelt on the ground, and supported himself with one hand.

“Not going to school?! What can you do if you don’t go to school?!” Trembling hands quickly unbuckled the belt, and the cowhide belt was tightly gripped in his palm. “How old do you think you are? What do you think you are doing?! You fucking explain it to me!”

“Not going to school anymore, I want to go out and make money…”

With a whoosh, the belt waved down, and a bloody mark appeared on his cheek. Chen Yuanming twitched in pain, but did not dodge.

“Make money?! Make a fart! Where can a 15-year-old kid like you make money? What money can you make?!” Along with the roar, the belt smashed down on his head and face, each strike bringing out a bloody mark.

“What kind of madness is this…” Wang Juan sat slumped on the bed beside her, her voice full of crying. “What kind of madness is this?! Ah… Is it that bitch Liu Yun! It must be her!!”

“No…” A whip hit the hollow of his neck. Chen Yuanming gritted his teeth and shook his head vigorously. “I don’t care for her little money!”

Chen Jianhua laughed in anger and stopped, panting heavily. “Don’t care for it?! Are your wings hard now, thinking you are capable! Make money? Is making money as simple as you think?! I am 30 and only have a salary of 80 yuan a month. How can you make money? Just because you haven’t even finished junior high school?!”

Blood slid down Chen Yuanming’s cheek. He smiled, the corner of his eye twitching slightly. “Because I gave Aunt Liu an idea, and she earned more than 1,000 yuan in a month.”

These words were like a thunderbolt, freezing the two of them in place. Chen Yuanming didn’t pause. “I already have a plan and bought a train ticket. The train leaves at 7 tomorrow. I’m going to the south to work.”

“Train…” Wang Juan’s lips trembled. She had never taken a train in her life, nor had she even been around the train station. “How old are you? Do you know… what the neighbors will say about you… Do you know, if you don’t go to school, in the future you… Mom begs you, don’t be crazy, okay? Let’s go apologize to the teacher. You can get into the First High School, Doudou, you can pass…”

Tears slid down Wang Juan’s cheeks. Chen Yuanming only felt his throat choked and uncomfortable. He wanted to tell his mother that in his previous life, they also didn’t save enough money to pay back his uncle, leaving an originally innocent and lively little girl with a lifelong disability. He wanted to tell his mother that years of overtime work destroyed her spirit. Three years later, she would fall into a deep sleep while on night shift, allowing a gang of thieves to steal important materials from the factory, losing her job and spending half her life in people’s mocking eyes. He wanted to tell his mother that because of years of overtime, his father eventually got a strain disease, and his back would ache whenever the weather changed, making him miserable…

So many words surged in his heart, but what finally squeezed out from between his teeth was, “I want to earn money, lots and lots of money. Even if you break my legs, I want to go out and venture.”

Looking at his son’s straight back while kneeling, and the things radiating from his eyes, Chen Jianhua’s hand shook, and the belt slipped from his fingers. His back hunched over, seeming to age ten years in an instant. Looking at his sobbing wife and his son with a bloody face, he swayed and walked out the door.

“Jianhua! Jianhua!” After crying out twice without calling back her husband’s back, Wang Juan threw herself on her son. “Why can’t you think it through? How can you let your dad and me raise our heads in front of others… It’s all mom’s fault, it’s all mom’s fault… Why can’t our family live a good life? Why can’t you go to school! Doudou, why can’t you think it through…”

Something warm slid down his neck and dripped onto the open wound, causing a burning pain. Chen Yuanming endured it for a long time, and finally reached out and hugged his mother. “I will make a lot of money, Mom… Don’t worry, I can…”

Something rolled in the bottom of his eyes, scalding his heart with pain. But compared to the previous entanglement, his heart was filled with determined calm. He was no longer that innocent child. He had memories and experiences far beyond his age. He should shoulder this family, instead of letting his parents fall into the predicament of poverty and despair again.

Having lived again, he could do it.

Early the next morning, carrying a small bundle, Chen Yuanming walked into the green train carriage with more than two hundred yuan and an ID card, embarking on a journey to the south.

Behind him, there were no relatives or friends to see him off, only a letter lying quietly in the mailbox. On the beige envelope, a few neat pen characters were written: Sun Lang, Class 2, Grade 3, No. 2 Middle School of L City Bearing Factory (Receiver).